TCNY Lions: Quick recap

Newsflash. It’s really cold here in the Northeast! Not much of a newsflash for January. But yeah. We haven’t had this kind of cold for a few years. It was really nice to be at the Armory again last night, after nearly two years away from Washington Heights. That old building is usually plenty warm, toasty warm for the sprinters and uncomfortably warm for distance races. Last night, for some reason (perhaps to provide ventilation during the Covid era), several windows were open. Did I mention it’s cold out there? Well. It was cold IN there last night. Yikes. Here’s the thing! A year ago, I would have given anything to complain about a chilly night INSIDE the Armory. So. No complaints here. Just a few more layers of flannel, a winter hat, and we’re good to go.

The first meet after a long layoff is usually referred to as a “rust buster,” a term that annoys the crap out of Loyal Marist Running Alum Sami Ellougani. I know Sami is a loyal reader of this blog, and so that is why I include these sentences, and I will mention the term “rust buster” again here – just to piss him off! Sometimes, though, clichés are true. This was truly a rust-buster meet, a kind of a meh meet for the team (and, really, for much of the athletes on other teams too), but highlighted with some good and strong performances. Hayley Collins ran a PR in the 3km, deep into her long and successful career. Great! Chris Paxis (Pax) ran a scintillating win in the 3km, and set a PR in the process. Noah Brown nabbed two PRs (hurdles and pole vault) and narrowing missed the school record in the pole vault. He’s getting close, and he really didn’t get a chance to practice over break. So that’s neat too. Glenmour Leonard-Osbourne returned (though not in a Marist uniform yet, that should happen soon), adding depth and pizzazz to our ever-improving sprint program. A few other mini-PRs as well. So not bad and it gets us hungry to work hard and get after it. Even though it’s currently 3 degrees out and a long run in planned in about an hour. We’ll continue to shake off that rust and hopefully have more highlights in the coming weeks – whether it’s cold outside, inside, or both. OK!